Re:RE: RE: Political ads with phone numbers

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>]

On 4 Nov 2002 at 20:07, Joseph Pappalardo wrote:

> The 3rd part candidates (for Mass Gov)couldn't have
> asked for more attention from the media this time
> around.  Virtually everyone knows who they are....and
> virtually everyone has rejected their canidacies.

Well, actually, I would vote for Jill Stein if not for the danger of helping Mitt Romney.  I think 
she's come across much better than Shannon O'Brien.  The problem is partly our electoral 
system, which gives the win to the winner of a plurality of votes, not an overall majority.  
There are a number of alternative methods of voting which would give a different result.
 
I've decided to vote for the Green Party candidates for the lesser offices, where they are not 
likely to affect the outcome, and where I wouldn't be quite so upset if a Republican were to 
win.  I'm also planning to write in Randall C. Forsberg, who is running a write-in campaign 
against John Kerry to protest his vote for the Iraq war resolution.

The real problem with third-party movements, and a major reason they never become 
anything more, is that they tend to run candidates for top offices, which they can't win, and 
never try to build at the lower level. If the Green Party decided to focus serious efforts on 
winning legislative seats, picking their races, and putting resources into them, they might, in 
a few elections, win more seats than the Republicans.  They would then have power 
whenever their votes were needed on any issue, and they would gain credibility as a real 
political party.

But if the Greens did become a major party, they'd have a number of problems.  For one, 
they would somehow have to finance the advertizing necessary to be a real contender for 
statewide office.  This could become less of a problem if the Clean Elections Law is ever 
allowed to function, but that would be one of their problems -- financing their campaigns 
without becoming beholden to special interests.  For another, they'd have their nominees 
determined in open primaries, in which people who are not registered members of the Green 
Party can vote, and that could result in candidates who don't stand for what the party stands 
for.  That's the trouble with open primaries.  I think they're unconstitutional.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         http://www.attorneyross.com